Just a rant about the Cahoot flexible loan!

in*the*red_6

Sorry just had to rant about this really....

Just received an email that owing to the base rate rise my cahoot flexible loan is going up to 9.1% APR. This comes just a few weeks after they increased it (just for the hell of it) to 8.9%.

How do card/loan providers get away with this? Is it just me but I don't recall them ever putting the interest rate down when the base rate has been cut?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

loubie_lou

I've recently had this to in*the*red. Wish i'd never bothered getting it now.

Ebany

This makes me nervous - I took out one of these at the start of the year, and so far it has stayed put at 6.9% - how long have other people had theirs? Can I expect mine to start rocketing soon?

I figured it would be good as my income can very by a fair bit, so it means I can pay off extra whenever I have some spare, but its harder to spend from it than a credit card is. I know I'm not so good at ignoring my cards, so this seems safer (and indeed, I haven't taken any more money out since I opened it, which I used to pay off another card that was at 15.9%)

System

I had exactly the same thing, except i never read their emails. Mine went form ~7% to around 16%. I was incensed. I swapped it to a 9 month interest free cc

happyformonths

Ebany, I think your rate is supposed to stay the same for 1 year after opening the loan, then they can do what they like with it. So you're all right for a few months. :rolleyes:

in*the*red, I can completely see why you're fuming, as they've just put the rate up again after a recent rise... but get it in perspective if it helps you feel better - it's only 0.2% this time. On a balance of £5,000 that's an extra £10 per year.

I know, I know, I'm not excusing them - I just closed my loan with them as they'd put the rate up in one go from 9.6% to 13.9% or something (it'd originally been 6.9%) and I just got fed up of them - virtually non-existent customer services too, in my experience.

Anyway, you're not alone.

HFM

frugglewump

Ebany wrote:

This makes me nervous - I took out one of these at the start of the year, and so far it has stayed put at 6.9% - how long have other people had theirs? Can I expect mine to start rocketing soon?

I had 6.9% for the first year. (2003)
Then it started slowly rising. It's been 8.4% for about a year now so the jump to 9.1% is a PITA and rather more than the 0.25 base rate change.

tomstickland

I had a Cahoot flexible loan a few years ago when they had very competitive rates. Since it's flexible you can pay most of it off now, so I'd look into 0% credit card purchase deals and offset the money into the loan to reduce the balance, then pay the cc off when you need to.

james32_uk

Well, Cahoot did call it their 'flexible' loan so what did you expect?

lynzpower

I urge anyone who has got a cahot loan to get out of it asap.

My OH has gone from 6.9 to 13.4% in a matter of months, every month another email drops into his box telling him its going up

there has been lots of discussion on the loans board about this Ive spoke to FSA, trading standards the lot, and this does seem to be legal.

There are lots of topics on the loans board, have a dig around.

Vickylin

I recently upped my Cahoot loan from £4000 to £6000 to pay off mine and OH's overdraft. The rate has just gone up for me too, I think to 9.1%. Am wondering if this was such a great idea now. I can only just make the min repayments.

lynzpower

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=251300